Overturned
by Jyunjun
Summary: Rick's life spirals out of control after leaving the CDC. The heart broken man learns that loyalty, friendship and love doesn't come easy. DarylxRick [WIP]
1. Chapter 1

Overturned

Chapter 1

"Sophia! … Sophia!" Rick cried out at the top of his lungs, not giving a damn if he was attracting a heap of the undead towards him or not. That earned him a warning glare from Daryl.

All the able-bodied men of the survival group went out in to the woods in hopes of finding Sophia, the twelve-year-old daughter of Carol.

They had just been through a surprise encounter of what seemed like a herd of zombies, cruising through the highway that they were coincidentally stuck on.  
It was weird that the zombies were sticking together like sheep following their shepherd and even weirder that they were taking the damn highway, but it was okay, because nothing needed to make sense anyway.

The girl hadn't been careful and quiet enough.  
A lone walker that had lagged behind it's group soon noticed the disturbance she caused and chased her out of her hiding spot; underneath a car. If it wasn't that serious Rick would've thought that it was funny that a walker would even bother bending down to check for what had caused the noise.  
The poor horrified girl screamed and scrambled for her life, taking off down in to the woods. Rick Grimes had immediately dashed out soon after from underneath a bus following suit to save her life. He quickly caught up with Sophia and scooped her up in his arms, running as fast as his legs could go.

In short, he got too tired, left her in a small creek, diverted the walkers, and lost the girl.  
Well done.

He needed to find the poor girl badly. How could he have even thought of leaving a little girl all by herself in the woods like that?  
_**Stupid! Stupid! **_Rick berated himself mentally. He wondered how he even made it from the hospital to his family given with such a useless brain.  
He'll find Sophia back, reunite her with her mother, and the group can continue on their journey to a safer place.

Rick was too anxious to notice Daryl and was oblivious to the glares of daggers the huntsman was shooting at him as he continued to call for Sophia. The tracker in front became more and more annoyed with each call.

"Shut up! You want us dead?" Daryl finally snapped, stopping abruptly in his tracks and turning back to shout at Rick in a hushed tone. He gave the man a fierce and hard stare that said 'one more time and I will skin you like an animal'.

The sheriff swallowed, all owl-eyed and shocked at the sudden stop and reaction from the hunter.  
He returned the stare back blankly and innocently for a moment before comprehending what Daryl had just spat at him. His mind was just too chaotic, mostly with self-condemnation.

"Well then how do you suggest we find her?" Rick argued back finally, keeping the same low volume as Daryl had used, huffing out a sigh, hands on his hips. The sheriff was clearly tired and desperate.

Daryl just rolled his eyes and turned his cold hard gaze back to the ground in front. No point arguing with a man in such distress.  
"She left tracks." He bent down on one knee to carefully examine the soil, confirming his lead on the direction that Sophia had took.  
Rick looked over Daryl's shoulder and squinted his eyes to look at the spot that Daryl was pointing to. _**There's nothing** **there...**_

"How can you tell? I don't see anything at all." A small trace of guilt could be heard in Rick's voice together with his softer tone. He knew the hunter well enough to trust that the man would never say things that he was unsure about. The trail although not visible to his eyes, must definitely be there.  
God, he was so thankful that Daryl had actually found a trail! Now the chances of recovering Sophia would increase significantly. All they had to do was follow her trail and there she will be, right? At the end of the trail.

"You want a lesson in tracking, or you want to find that girl?" Daryl decided to ignore Rick from then on and got up from his position, continuing his search for Sophia. Someone had to find that girl, and he knew very well that it would be him.

_**Am I the only one that's Zen here? Jeez! **_Daryl held back his thought from converting into sound. He couldn't blame the man for freaking out though. After all, Rick was the one that had left her alone. But hey, what else could he have done? Had he not left her there in the creek, they both would have gotten eaten due to Rick collapsing out of exhaustion.  
Now Rick is alive, and Sophia is not dead, just missing.

Rick followed silently behind, secretly thanking God that Daryl was there with him. He was in awe, by the way Daryl maneuvered through the woods, how he was able to see and comprehend things Rick could not, how firm, collected and sure the man was.  
What would have happened if Daryl weren't there? He would have freaked out, kept hollering for Sophia, attract a bunch of walkers, and probably get the rest of the team killed. That's what would have happened.

The two men combed through the woods, Rick quietly tagging behind Daryl while the tracker did his thing.  
Feeling a high sense of hope, Rick's mind became a little less messy and he realized just how awkward his relationship with Daryl was, even when there were only such few people left on this planet.  
He was comfortable enough to chat and make small talks with Glenn, T-Dog, Dale, and definitely Shane, but when it came to Daryl he realized he didn't know what to say.  
They both hadn't had much chance to talk to each other since that incident of him locking Daryl's brother's hand to the top of a building. A wave of guilt washed over Rick at the thought of Merle.

Daryl immediately stood still at attention when the sound of twigs and leaves crunching whizzed past his ears.

"Get down!" Daryl ordered and the two swiftly got down on one knee immediately almost at the same time. It was as if Rick already knew what he was going to say. For a split second there Daryl noted that Rick had a pretty good work-chemistry with him.  
Usually those dumb-fucks who tagged along with him on his hunting trips had too many questions and don't always do as they're told, scaring their food away multiple times. That was why he always preferred hunting alone.

He brought his hand up in front of Rick signaling the man not to move. Rick nodded obediently.  
They surveyed the area for the source of the sound, or what was making that sound…

It was a walker.

Inching cautiously nearer to get a clearer shot at the wandering walker, Daryl raised his crossbow and took aim at the undead's head.  
With a slight wheeze and thud the walker was taken down easily. The skillful hunter gave a small smirk and went in for his prey, leaving Rick who was in awe, behind to chase to his steps.  
Rick hated to admit it but Daryl had looked really cool, how he dealt with the walker with such speed and ease. Not even a word was said and the walker was taken care of. It was then that he began to realize what it was and took to be a "hunter".

"You don't suppose… She…" Rick muttered, looking at Daryl for some sort of answer. All he got in return was a look full of uncertainty, just like his own.

This time Rick took the initiative and squatted down in front of the walker, pulled out his pocket knife, and took a deep breath.  
He had enough of causing trouble. The least he could do was to cut open the zombie's stomach to check…

"I'll do it." Daryl brushed Rick on the shoulder gently aside.  
The way Rick was hesitating and looking at the walker made Daryl take pity on him. He knew the man's heart was too soft to even gut a squirrel. Besides, what was he thinking trying to cut a human open with that puny knife of his?  
He drew his knife out, which was fairly larger and sharper than Rick's, and straddled the dead man.

Rick felt even more like a loser. He had lost enough of his pride to try and argue with the experienced man.  
Yes, he did gut a human before, but during then they had protective gears and a huge freaking axe. It grossed him out thinking of slowly slicing open a person's belly with that joke of a knife that he had.

_**Okay… 1… 2… 3…**_ Daryl stabbed the knife in to the top of the abdomen with force and without hesitation, slicing it open downwards.  
The stench that filled up the area was no new smell to both men, and Rick recalled covering himself in a dead man's guts in Atlanta. The walker and the dead man both had a similar smell. They smelt dead.

10 seconds in to the disembowelment and Rick mentally applauded himself for managing to not hurl. He was getting used to death and all that came with it real fast.  
He was always a fast learner.  
Looking at the knife slicing steadily through the stomach made the Sheriff think twice about the man beside him. If it weren't for the apocalypse, Daryl would be just the kind of man he'd arrest.

Lost in his thoughts, Rick slowly turned his gaze on to Daryl's face observing his expressions, looking for any form of emotion radiating from within.  
Daryl was such a mysterious man.  
Just then, Daryl turned his head to face Rick and gave him a sheepish grin that somewhat mocked Rick of never being able to do what he was doing.  
Instantaneously, Rick's reflex was to shy away from Daryl's eyes...

What? He SHIED away from Daryl?  
Rick could already feel the hot blush creeping up to his cheeks and he quickly made a disgusted and queasy face at the walker, trying hard to cover up his embarrassed look…  
That was weird…  
...

Rick quickly snapped out of it and got down to business… Time to open the stomach sack.

"That's all of it." Rick gagged, wiping his pocketknife clean on the ground.  
They had emptied out the contents of the walker's stomach sack and thankfully, there were no remnants or traces of Sophia inside.  
The relieved duo hastily continued on their journey to locate the missing girl.

The day was coming to an end as an orange hue slowly spilled out on to the sky, warning all survivors of the apocalypse that it was going to get dark pretty damn soon.  
Time did not exist anymore. There was no need for time. It was either bright or dark. That was the only thing that had mattered.

All the men who were in the search started to call it a day, turning and heading back towards the road where their vehicles were parked. It was a painful decision to make, knowing Sophia, the little girl that had survived and shared so much memories together with them, was still out there in the woods afraid and alone, and that they had to stop looking for her just because it was getting dark.

It was an exceptionally painful decision for Rick to accept, when Daryl had first pitched the idea of heading back and returning the next day again to look for the girl. He begged to continue the search a little longer and Daryl complied, feeling pity for the desperate man. His plea had this little quiver in it that made Daryl empathize, yet annoyed at the same time at the stubborn man.  
Fine, he would search a little longer. Who knew the trail might be ending and maybe Sophia would be there anyway.

Darkness sure was creeping in fast on the last two searchers and Daryl made a point to turn back and not let Rick's desperation trick him in to wandering too far from the RV. It wasn't the time to die yet.

"C'mon, let's go back." Daryl said firmly this time.

Rick's face crumpled subtly in despair, wanting to protest, but he looked down and did not say a thing.  
He too knew that it was too dangerous to continue searching for Sophia, and they would risk clumsily trudging over her path and clues, if there was even any left...

Daryl couldn't help but notice the worry lines formed on Rick's face, observing his expression in silence...  
_**… Whatever**_

Every step Rick took towards the RV felt like weights being added unto his shoulders. How could he face the group again? How could he face Carol?

The rest of the group were finally in sight, and Rick wanted ever more to sprint back the way he came from and not return until he had the girl back in his arms again.  
His feet thought otherwise though, and continued carrying him forward keeping close to Daryl's back. Hopefully, Daryl's back could shield him away from their sight and save him from all the condemnation.  
Everyone were pinning their last hopes on the two remaining searchers.  
As they were approaching the group, Rick's throat decided to clench up and cause Rick a hard time breathing properly.  
_**Well that's just great.**_ He thought bitterly.

"Where is she?" Devastation was clearly evident in Carols' tone and Rick felt like his life could have ended just then and there.  
Why wasn't Sophia with them?  
She looked over behind Daryl and Rick, hoping that Sophia would be behind them, just blocked out of her sight. Maybe they were just playing a joke on her? Sophia would run out yelling for her mother and she would hug and kiss her precious daughter.  
The next few words she heard tore her heart apart completely and left her in the arms of Lori, who was preventing the grieving mother from hitting the ground.

Rick had wanted so much to explain to Carol why they had turned back, but his throat limited him so badly that he only managed to spew out a few choked words.  
"Her trail, went cold…"

"We'd just be trippin' over ourselves out there in the dark." Daryl backed him up.  
He couldn't believe how everyone was shooting Rick looks of disappointment. _**Fuckin' hypocrites. I don't see any of you chasing the girl when she was in trouble.**_**  
**It angered the hunter that they were all being such hypocrites but he restrained himself from scolding them. It would just worsen the situation and create more chaos.

Carol began to heave heavily. All she cared for was that her daughter would be back with them, but that didn't happen. _**Damn it, why!**_  
Tears quickly started to well up in sorrowful eyes, and Carol found it impossible to stand any longer. Lori felt the sudden increase in weight and quickly led Carol to sit on the hood of a car.

"How could you? ... How could you just leave her to begin with?" She breathed out between gasps painstakingly, full of spite and disappointment at Rick.

At that point Rick's mind was just racing wildly, trying to come up with an excuse, any excuse that he could give, but he couldn't find any.  
It was true. He did leave the girl alone in the woods. All these that had happened had been singlehandedly caused by him, Rick Grimes.  
The disappointed looks that the group were giving him made his heart sink so deep he felt the gravity pull literally and the sheriff bent down a little lower to keep his focus. His vision was becoming a little blurry. The sheriff's mind spun so badly that he felt like he was about to faint.

"Please, I need you to calm down." Rick pleaded with Carol, kneeling down on one knee to look up at her.  
"It was my only option. There was no other choice I could make…"  
Rick sounded really pathetic. The tone that was carried with his voice bubbled out from his chest; Guilt, shame, and sorrow.

"She's just a child..."  
And Rick knew he had nothing else to say. She was right.

Every passing moment that Rick spent looking at Carol, his blue watery eyes pleading her to forgive him and give him another chance, made him feel more and more sick. His mind was already in turmoil, and Carol was taking too long to give him a response. He couldn't face her anymore.

Rick drew in a big painful amount of air and pulled himself up to quickly get away from the group.  
He felt like a total failure and a big, fucking loser.


	2. Chapter 2

Overturned

Chapter 2

It was a cold hard night, just like every other night.  
Except, instead of tucking in to a soft warm bed under a blanket with a cushiony pillow for their heads, the humans tucked in to the hard ground in their sleeping bags with a hammer of fear pounding on their heads, slowly hammering till they drift in to oblivion.

Each night one person would take watch on top of the roof of the trailer and look out for any roaming walkers that were to stumble on to the survivors' territory.

During the night watch, they would switch shifts whenever they couldn't stand staying awake any longer, as there weren't any timers or stopwatches to keep track of who did how many hours. Those precious batteries were best saved for more important uses like radios, torchlights, and communication devices.  
Their night watching routine wasn't a great plan, but it would have to do for now though.  
Having a person constantly slipping in and out of dreamland keeping watch wouldn't do much good anyway.

"Hey, Daryl." The softest whisper accompanied with the gentlest nudge jolted Daryl out from his deep slumber.

"… Yeah?" Daryl rolled slightly back and lifted up a heavy eyelid to look at whomever that had disrupted him from his sleep.  
His voice was raw and deep, and the bright light that was shone at his face made him squint and frown in annoyance.  
_**It'd better not be walkers.**_

Lowering his torchlight to face the ground, Glenn took a cautious step backwards, beginning to regret his decision. He absolutely did not expect Daryl to get woken up so easily.

It was creepy that Daryl was so alert when awake and even when asleep. Did that guy have any loophole at all?  
Knowing the Dixons' temper the timid boy had already mentally prepared to leave and wake someone else up if Daryl had not responded on his third try.  
Usually it took Glenn roughly five to seven tries to wake someone else up. He didn't like disturbing people, especially from their sleep, something that everyone was severely lacking of.

"Can you take over? I don't think I can hold out any longer."  
Glenn wondered if he had chosen the wrong person to pass his night-watch shift to. He could have passed the it to some other person but it seemed like apart from Daryl, everyone had done his or her fair share of getting less sleep, and Glenn started to understand why that was so.

Nobody would want to wake up someone like that.

Daryl was like a beast, his muscular form crawling tiredly but gracefully out from the sleeping bag he was in. The grunts he made while stretching out the kinks and aches too, sounded like a beast, and Glenn gulped.

It was amazing how Daryl could look so dangerous.  
The scars on his body were his telltale signs that you do not try to fuck with this man. He looked as if he was ready to pounce and stab you in the neck any time if you dare upset him, and he probably was.

Seeing the man got up, Glenn slowly backed out of the tent, thankful that he hasn't gotten punched yet. He felt safer outside. If Daryl tried to hurt him he would have a better chance of survival by running out in the open.

Daryl ducked out of his tent, his tired and baggy eyes still half-lidded, yawning and ruffling his messy just-out-of-bed hazel-brown hair.  
The man rubbed and twisted his shoulder, displaying his defined muscles under his slightly sun burnt skin. He tilted his head sideways and his face cringed up in pain.  
_**Probably slept too long on his side**_. Glenn muses, still extremely cautious over the man.

Glenn realized he must have been unconsciously showing his emotions externally when Daryl gave him an irritated funny look that made him wash off whatever face that he had on away immediately.

"What?" Daryl challenged in a provocative manner, not expecting an answer.  
The boy was just _lookin'_ at him. **_The fuck?_**

Annoyed that the boy was being such a goddamn snail, he reached his hand out to gesture for Glenn to pass him the torchlight.

Daryl wondered what the hell was up with these people.  
He'd been called up to do the night watch only thrice and in all those three times, Shane, Andrea, and Jacqui had the same bloody type of expression on their face, now Glenn too.  
What was that look? Did he look ridiculously ugly when he just got out of bed? Fuckin' bastards. They don't look too good themselves either...  
Or maybe he was just ridiculously handsome... Daryl snorted at the thought.

Right out of the corner his eye, Daryl caught a glimpse of a silhouette that was crouched down at the side of the trailer and like a hawk that caught sight of it's prey, swiftly turned his head to have clearer look.

Oh? It was Rick. What was he doing there at such a time? If Daryl were to guess, give it two to four more hours and the sky would start to light up.

Partly relieved that it wasn't a threat, Daryl turned back and shot Glenn a questioning look.  
The kid finally snapped out of his blur state and took a step closer to pass Daryl the torchlight.  
"Oh yeah, he's been there the whole night…"  
Glenn peered over Daryl's shoulder to confirm the same form that was there with him for the previous couple of hours.  
Yup, still there… Poor Rick…

The sheriff was always so strong willed, optimistic and compassionate.  
That was what made the people see him as their "leader" in the first place.  
Don't get them wrong, Shane did a good job leading and keeping them alive, but there was something about Rick… Something about the man that made life on this god-forsaken world a teeny bit little less painful.  
Having to see him in that state was really odd and heart breaking.

During his shift Glenn had contemplated many times about approaching Rick but honestly, he had not a single clue of what to say to him. It's not as simple as a "it's not your fault" or "suck it up dude" or "it'll get better".  
It was a lot more than that.  
Even Glenn Rhee, the "half-cup full" guy, didn't know what to say.

Glenn's head started to hurt when he stressed about Rick. He was too tired to even think about anything else.  
The boy gave Daryl a firm tap on the shoulder and left for his own tent. One more second standing there and he might just fall and start snoozing on the ground.

Daryl just stood there observing Rick. What was he doing crouching down there anyway?  
He slowly approached the oblivious man, hoping hard that the sheriff wasn't crying or any shit like that. God, he hated it when people cry.

Daryl remembered witnessing his buddy crying once over a fuckin' girl when they were just teens and that was the last time he'd try to comfort someone out of crying.  
It was just pure awkwardness.  
What was he supposed to do? He can't hug them like how girls would usually do. That's gay.  
He doesn't like the idea of talking a whole load of bull to try and delude them in to thinking how "everything's going to be fine" either.  
They need to just man the fuck up and stop freakin' crying.

Thankfully, Rick wasn't crying. He was just… squatting there like a statue, eyes firmly fixated on the ground.  
Daryl sighed and approached Rick more boldly this time.  
How's Rick going to search for Sophia and function properly later on if he doesn't sleep?

"Ain't sleepin?" Rick flinched and looked up at Daryl, his blue eyes flashing with shock at the sudden words directed at him. Since when was Daryl awake, and how long had he been standing there beside him?

Quickly regaining his stoned composure and avoiding Daryl's gaze, Rick shook his head and replied a soft "No."

"Dude. We'll find her later on so quit worryin'." Daryl assumed.

Rick languidly lifted up his head, drawing his tired gaze up to meet Daryl's eyes, causing Daryl to shift a little in discomfort.  
It was the first time he saw this face of Rick's, aside from the tired look that everyone else also had, the deputy had a look on that he never showed in the day. Daryl could only describe it as _heavy_.

"I…" Rick wanted to say something but retracted his sentence as quick as it came out. He swallowed and looked back down again.

Getting impatient, the Dixon rolled his eyes and turned away to head towards the ladder that led up to the roof of the trailer. He wasn't going to waste anymore time waiting for slow people to respond slowly anymore.  
Why the heck was everybody being such a drag recently anyway?  
Well, Rick was excusable but all these bull piles up and Daryl doesn't like dealing with them.

Something put a stop in the Dixons' track right before he took his first step and had him spinning backwards.

"Daryl." It sounded more like a plea; it was breathy and weak, as if pleading the impatient man to not leave just yet.

After making sure the younger man had stayed put, Rick plucked up his courage to finally speak.  
"She asked me not to leave her… But I did." Rick took his time to wrangle out those words, and had begun breathing heavier. Since when did the weight of air increase?  
His words felt so heavy he needed to push them out of his clamped up throat.

Daryl was stunt. He had never heard Rick in this kind of tone before. It sounded so…

"She wanted me to shoot them, even reached for my gun. Why didn't I-"? He couldn't bring himself to complete his sentence.

"Hey, hey, look. You did right for not gettin' the rest o' us killed alright?"

"I told Carol I had no other choice. I had so many other choices! I could've shot those walkers. Could've kept on runnin' instead of throwin' her there. She told me not to leave, Daryl. Could've killed 'em both around that area instead of runnin' so goddamn far away! Why did I even tell her to run back to the road alone? I should've asked her to wait there for me! What if it was Carl? I would've done differently, Daryl. I would never have let that happen if it was Carl!" Rick's voice shook unsteadily throughout. The man panted as if oxygen was running out.

The sudden string of self-condemnation left Daryl dumbfounded for a minute, trying to digest all the information that Rick had just spewed out at him.  
Upon realization, Daryl just continued staring at Rick for a couple of seconds more before his blank expression morphed in to a frown.

"Oi! Listen good." Pissed off, Daryl went and stood in front of the huddled man real close and crouched down to eyeball the cop face to face.  
"No point kickin' yourself in the nuts right now kay? ... We need your help to find her later on so do us a favor and rest."

After so many years of living, Daryl thought that everyone would have already understood the fact that SHIT HAPPENS.  
But some people just don't, and he graciously accepts that. (Or at least he thinks he does.)  
What they've got to do was to either make do, or change it, and Daryl learnt that the hard way.  
His family wasn't the typical loving family that most people would normally get. They cooked him real good, because Daryl grew to be a hard-boiled man.

"I lied. I lied to a grieving mother." There was so much sorrow swimming in Rick's eyes it made Daryl feel something weird swirl in his chest; something apart from his impatience that he could not identify, something that compelled him to do something to lessen Rick's burden. That foreign feeling irritated Daryl.

Daryl brushed aside that feeling quick enough to not let it get to his head.  
No time for silly emotions.

He took a deep breath and whispered articulately, making sure not to break eye contact with the sheriff.  
"I don't care what you think, but **I am going to find that girl**."

Daryl stared in to Rick's eyes giving him a couple of seconds to let his words sink in.  
He spoke with such strong emphasis on the latter part, so full of confidence and determination that even though it wasn't exactly delivered in a nice way, Rick felt a strange sense of relief flush like warm water over his mind and body.

Somehow, seeing the way Daryl reacted renewed his hope for finding Sophia.  
Although he did not show and acknowledge it, deep down inside he knew that the chances of finding the little girl was seeping away as the minutes go by.  
Have you ever been lost in the woods? It's crazy, the amount of things that could go wrong in there, not to mention being young and alone in the middle of the night, in a zombie-infested world.  
However, just in an instance, Daryl rekindled that smothering flame of hope in him.

Rick was so thankful; Daryl always had a way to calm him down no matter what, without all the bullcrapistry that people liked feeding each other. Always knew what to do, always had his shit together.  
Yeah, it didn't matter if he'd lied to Carol about not having any other choice or anything. For now, what mattered most was to retrieve her daughter.  
The finger pointing could go afterwards.

"Thank you." His eyes shone rich with gratitude as Rick tried to crack the slightest smile in appreciation but failed miserably ending up looking like his lip had a twitch.

Daryl was just glad that Rick had allowed his words to process. He gave Rick a small but warm smile and nodded, with Rick returning the nod.

It had been their thing for quite some time now, the nodding.  
Although Daryl doesn't admit it, he does not deny the fact either, that it felt nice to know that someone had actually gave a shit about him.

Ever since the apocalypse had started, no one had shown him any appreciation or compassion.  
The group were cold towards each other, only sticking together for the one and only reason; staying alive.  
It's every man for himself.

It had always been thought that everyone who did their part was SUPPOSED to do their part, be it cleaning, hunting, scavenging or cooking. There was no "Please", "Thank you" or "Welcome".  
Well, that all changed when Glenn and his gang came back with a new guy called Rick Grimes.  
Maybe that was why Carol looked a little shocked when Rick had thanked her for washing his clothes.

Daryl wasn't a fan of formalities, acting all polite and shit, and Rick was smart enough to pick up on that at the first day. (Yup, Rick's a fast learner alright.)  
The two settled for just small exchanges of glances and little nods and Daryl liked it better that way.

Dawn was breaking and members of the group were one by one slowly woken up by the imposing sunlight.  
Sometimes they wondered why the Sun was still up every morning in this fictitious world. Did the Sun forget that it too, did not needed to make sense anymore?

Usually Daryl would be the first one to wake up, followed shortly after by Dale.  
As soon as Dale had woken up the hunter would take off in to the woods searching for another days' worth of food, and if lucky, two or three days worth.  
Today was different. Today, they will continue searching for Sophia, and Daryl was eager to get things going. He secretly thanked Carol in his heart for spending the effort to save up and preserve their left over foods. It would last them probably a day or two.

Bright light crept up on the still tired man's sleeping face and behind his eyelids, and Rick cursed mentally as his brain took over his subconscious mind.  
_**Dang. Morning already?  
Oh right, the girl.**_  
The sheriff shot up at the thought and groaned softly when the blood rushed from his head down, ending him up with his head huddled between his knees, rubbing at his temple.

What a day it was going to be.


End file.
